Circular Economy and Sustainable Business
Explore real-life applications of circularity in business management.
Customize for Organizations
At a Glance
- Enrollment:
- Open Enrollment
- Length:
- 8 weeks
Explore best practices for integrating circularity metrics into traditional operating and financial models and examine the role of corporate boards, management teams, investors, and consumers in supporting the circular economy.
The University of Chicago’s eight-week Circular Economy and Sustainable Business course explores regenerative models and transition strategies, misconceptions, and the latest trends in the field, including impact evaluation through the lens of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Designed For
Professionals from the private and public sectors interested in learning the fundamentals of circular economy and emerging best practices for managing environmental and social factors in applying circularity principles. It is also suitable for those dedicated to strategy consultancy or professional services who seek to gain practical knowledge of circularity risks and opportunities affecting their clients and their sectors.
Learning Objectives to Become a Circular Economy Leader
Over eight weeks, this hands-on, interactive course will introduce you to circularity models, examine the underlying principles, and dissect the misunderstandings around “recycle, reuse” as foundational to circularity. You will explore real-world applications of circularity in business management according to the new “innovate, sustain” paradigm. You will also delve into balancing opportunities and challenges in employing circularity frameworks to advance sustainable business transitions and stakeholder practices.
After completing the program, you will be able to:
- Assess the interplay among business management, sustainability, and stakeholder practices to integrate circularity principles.
- Identify and balance challenges and opportunities in circularity frameworks to advance sustainable business transitions.
- Interpret and communicate circularity outcomes across a wide range of stakeholders.
- Earn a credential certifying completion from the University of Chicago and become part of the UChicago network.
Ready to Take Your Organization to the Next Level?
Reach out today and unite your professional practice with our distinctive blend of academic rigor and real-world application.
Get in TouchCircular Economy and Sustainable Business Curriculum
You will lean to:
- Develop problem-solving skills to integrate circularity concepts into operational and financial applications.
- Become comfortable analyzing qualitative and quantitative circularity metrics.
- Define environmental and social dimensions for companies, investors, consumers, and the public sector to enable the benefits of circularity.
Online Format Features
- Self-paced interactive learning modules with a variety of engaging learning activities, assignments, and resources.
- Live sessions that bring you, your peers, and your instructor together to learn collaboratively about the current state of the field, engage with real-world problems, and explore authentic solutions.
- Continuous support from your instructional assistant, who will accompany you on your journey through the content, answer your questions, and provide feedback on your work.
Weekly Course Schedule
Explore existing frameworks and metrics, the practical implementation of circularity principles, and potential roadmaps for adopting a circularity mindset.
Review local and global approaches to creating circularity value. Consider environmental pressures on the implementation of circular economy models. Examine examples from public policy and business implementation use cases.
Examine the environmental (E) and social (S) practices employed in circular business models, integration criteria for circularity, and business model deployment and social impact.
Learn how to interpret the sources and uses of circularity information. Explore use cases for circularity metrics, third-party scores, and impact assessment. Examine the circular economy through the lenses of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Learn about sustainable business transitions, emerging practices in the integration of circularity for business transitions, and circular economy and supply chain management.
Explore circularity strategies in alignment with traditional governance structures, the circularity transformation beyond the economic value of materials and products, and the future of business governance in promoting a circularity mindset.
Learn about potential barriers to implementing the circular economy. Explore organizational design for circular behaviors and building resilience through circularity.
Explore circularity by design, visualization techniques (energy and materials efficiency), and incorporating uncertainty in sustainable business transitions.
Meet Your Instructor
Our highly trained instructors are courageous thinkers and passionate leaders who leverage years of industry expertise and up-to-date knowledge of terminology, tools, and trends to deliver an unparalleled learning experience. Through their rigorous discourse, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and field-shaping contributions, they create practical solutions and pioneering innovations that enrich our world.
This instructor teaches this course regularly. Please speak to your enrollment advisor if you wish to know who the current teacher is.
Alessia Falsarone, MBA, MSc, SASB FSA
Sustainable Finance Specialist
Alessia Falsarone is a sustainable finance expert and educator who discovered her passion for impact science while studying mathematics at Stanford University. Her work bridges the gap between sustainability, financial innovation, and risk-taking behaviors.
A fellow of the Aspen Institute, Falsarone...
Career Outlook
The digital age is a global one, and environmental and social responsibility is no longer negotiable. Every industry—from the fashion sector to oil and gas—is looking for ways to support sustainability and take part in the circular economy.
The average salary of a sustainability manager in the United States.
The percentage of consumers who want to adopt circular practices.
The total anticipated economic benefit of the transition to a circular economy by 2030.
Potential Job Titles for Professionals with Circular Economy and Sustainability Expertise
- Chief Sustainability Officer
- Circular Economy Specialist
- Circular Investment Specialist
- Director of Corporate Social Responsibility
- Environmental Consultant
- ESG Officer
- Product Lifecycle Manager
- Product and Packaging Designer
- Reverse Logistics Manager
- Sustainability Assessor
Of Interest
Corporate Financial Strategy
Learn how to raise and allocate capital for optimal financial management.